"you must be seen in the next 6 hours"....
Discussion
Not me, my mum.
She had a colonoscopy on wednesday, for polyps (sp?), been in considerable pain since then, she has had the procedure before, so she wasnt too worried as the usually passes. Last night, the pain hadnt subsided and her left arm has now gone numb with cramping in her fingers and with some paralysis. She has a lot of bruising from the IV drip they put into her hand. She called 111, who made an appointment at the local hospital, and said "you must be seen within the next 6 hours"
The tone of how it was said worried my mum.
My best, uneducated guess is bruising has caused the paralysis (she bruises like a peach), but I guess 111 are worried about possible infections?
Can of our resident medical guys give me any more information/insight/wisdom? Mum is in the UK, but I live in Austria, hence me positing here.
She had a colonoscopy on wednesday, for polyps (sp?), been in considerable pain since then, she has had the procedure before, so she wasnt too worried as the usually passes. Last night, the pain hadnt subsided and her left arm has now gone numb with cramping in her fingers and with some paralysis. She has a lot of bruising from the IV drip they put into her hand. She called 111, who made an appointment at the local hospital, and said "you must be seen within the next 6 hours"
The tone of how it was said worried my mum.
My best, uneducated guess is bruising has caused the paralysis (she bruises like a peach), but I guess 111 are worried about possible infections?
Can of our resident medical guys give me any more information/insight/wisdom? Mum is in the UK, but I live in Austria, hence me positing here.
I work in the non-clinical side of the Out Of Hours GP service which runs alongside 111. Very difficult to give a simple answer but based on the answers your Mother gave the 111 call handler she was put on a "Contact a Primary Care Centre within 6 hours" disposition. This is classed as a recommended routine base GP appointment (there are also 12 hour and 24 hour routine dispositions. Various others depending what PCT). "You must be seen in the next 6 hours" is not technically correct and understandably quite alarming. "As a result of your assessment you have been recommended for a base appointment" is the line I tend to use. The problem with 111 call handlers is they are not clinically trained, usually very young and reading from a script.
The Patient has the option of declining a recommended appointment (no money, transport, too ill to make appointment etc) in which case we organise a GP callback.
The Patient has the option of declining a recommended appointment (no money, transport, too ill to make appointment etc) in which case we organise a GP callback.
Edited by NelsonM3 on Sunday 19th April 23:51
Edited by NelsonM3 on Sunday 19th April 23:54
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